The Military Confidence Building Measures Strategy Across the Taiwan Strait

On December 31, 2008, the President of China, Hu Jintao, gave an important speech on the eve of the 30th anniversary of “A letter to the Taiwan compatriots” dated January 1, 1979, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. This letter announced an end to the shelling of Kinmen, an islet near China’s Fu Chien province, and asked Taiwan to be unified with China. This letter is a symbol of China’s Taiwan policyfrom war to peace. Hu clearly pointed out that in order to stabilise the situation across the Taiwan Strait and decrease the problems of military security, both sides of the Taiwan Strait can continue to engage with each other at appropriate times, for putting in military confidence building mechanisms. Hu’s speech would not be hot news for cross-Strait relations because there have been increasing discussions over the last two years regarding military confidence building measures (CBMs).